


Compasses and such will only hold us back

by Sam_the_phoenix



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Multi, Short Chapters, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Trans Chopper, alternative universe - the gang is smart enough to go to university, like... 1-2k words per chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29656179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam_the_phoenix/pseuds/Sam_the_phoenix
Summary: A young alcoholic by the name of Zoro falls head over heels in love with his best friend, an ace/arospec ADHD kid called Luffy. Law, a med student, also has feelings for Luffy, and gets pushed by his dad to talk to him.---“Some-”Zoro’s eyes opened during the beat between the syllables - he was wide awake and groaning before the song could really start. Disgruntled, he rolled over in his bed.“BODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD IS GONNA ROLL ME”, the voice continued, only lightly muffled by the thin walls.Sometimes, Zoro really, really hated his best friend. Mostly in the mornings. Definitely always in the mornings.---A self-indulgent escapist story exploring themes of jealousy, identity, mental health, friendship and the inherent drama of being a young adult.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. SomeBODY

**Author's Note:**

> The most canon-contradictory thing about this AU is that both Luffy and Zoro are smart enough to go to College.

“Some-”

Zoro’s eyes opened during the beat between the syllables - he was wide awake and groaning before the song could really start. Disgruntled, he rolled over in his bed.

“BODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD IS GONNA ROLL ME”, the voice continued, only lightly muffled by the thin walls. 

Sometimes, Zoro really, really hated his best friend. Mostly in the mornings. Definitely always in the mornings.

He rolled over again and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, considering all the life choices that lead him to this exact moment, going all the way back to that point years ago, when this goofy-looking kid came up to him and sneaked him out of detention against his will – before he picked himself up and stumbled out of his room, accompanied by Smash Mouth telling him he was an all-star and a rock star. 

It wasn’t that Zoro hated Smash Mouth. He had just heard that song too many times. And, like every other human being, he would probably hate any song if it was used as an alarm for a prolonged time.

He yawned and he stretched and he turned on the coffee machine, momentarily confused why it wasn’t already on, which meant he had to wait for it to warm up. He scratched his chin. Yawned some more. Closed his eyes. Fell asleep standing up, until a quiet beep woke him. The coffee machine – he pressed the green-lit button and watched his coffee pour without actually looking at it. His brain was still asleep. The coffee would help. 

It took him nearly two sips to realise it was just hot milk water. Only then he realised they were still out of coffee. He swore quietly and went to take a shower instead.

The cold water woke him and brightened his mood little by little, and by the time he had finished, he had almost stopped being annoyed about being awake. Rubbing his hair dry with a towel that already had several green stains on it, he walked back to his room, not even thinking about bothering to put on clothes for crossing the flat. 

“…shooting stars break the mooOOold…”, the horrid song finished. Zoro put on a fresh pair of boxers and sighed, walking back into the living room, counting the seconds between the last note of the song and the time it started again.

“Some-”

There were no pillows left on the couch. Fuck. Instead, Zoro grabbed one of the flip flops from the untidy floor.

“BODY ONCE TOLD ME”, Smash Mouth started again.

“Oi!”, Zoro yelled and threw the flip flop as hard as he could through the open door to the second bedroom in the apartment. “WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

When he didn’t hear an answer, he groaned again, and went over to check on his friend the boring way.

Buried under a mountain of pillows, half of them actually belonging on the couch, topped by a single flip flop, was Luffy, sleeping and snoring soundly. Next to him, his phone blasted All star on top volume. It didn’t seem to bother Luffy much.

First, Zoro turned the alarm off, and allowed himself to enjoy the absence of Smash Mouth for a very nice moment. Then he picked up a few of the pillows from Luffy’s body and raised them above his head.

“Owch!”, Luffy yelped when the pillows hit him, but Zoro didn’t believe for a second he was actually hurt. He hit him again, for good measure. “Hey! I’m awake!”

“Fucking finally”, Zoro snapped at him, all bark and no bite, turning to leave the room, pillows under his arms. “Please, for fuck’s sake, change your alarm.”

He had accepted long ago that Luffy would just sleep through all his alarms and rely on his best friend waking him - it had basically become part of his routine - but waking up to Smash Mouth for a whole month was too much. Then again, what else could he expect from Monkey Saying-Yolo-Unironically fucking Luffy. He could probably be glad it wasn’t We Are Number One – not anymore, at least. 

After throwing the pillows into the vague direction of the couch – one fell on the floor, and that’s where it would stay – Zoro went to his room to finish getting ready. He put on a shirt and jeans, then ruffled his slightly damp hair until he was happy with how spiky it looked. 

Every action of this was a normal part of his daily routine. Getting up to whatever horrible song Luffy had set as his alarm, waking him up, getting dressed while listening to Luffy’s dissonant humming from the bathroom, leaning against the door while mindlessly scrolling through his phone as he was waiting for Luffy to be ready too, then leaving the apartment together to walk to university. Zoro wouldn’t want to change a thing about it.

“-all that glitters is goOold”, Luffy sang quietly while looking for his second flip flop, first one already on his feet, somehow making the song sound even worse, “only shooting stars nanana mooOOOOold…” Of course, even after having it as an alarm for a month, he still liked the song – which could just be because he never actually woke up to the damn thing. Or, and Zoro thought this was the more likely option, he just wasn’t normal. But then again. It’s Luffy. Of fucking course he’s not normal.

Zoro picked up the second flip flop and threw it at his head, knowing well enough he could do shit like that without him getting mad, and knowing even better that waiting for Luffy to find it on his own would take all morning.

“Ah, thanks!”, Luffy answered, picking the shoe from his grinning face and putting it on his feet. “Let’s go!”

Zoro shouldered his bag and followed his friend into the hallway, locking up behind them.

“I’m hungry, when will Sanji get back home?”, Luffy whined while they walked to university.

Okay, Zoro thought, maybe he would change one thing. In his opinion, Sanji, the third roommate, who was out of town at the moment, could gladly get lost.

“I don’t know”, Zoro said. “We’ll pass a bakery on the way, let’s get some breakfast there.”

Luffy looked at him.

“No, we don’t…?”, he said.

“Sure we do. It’s right after that crossing with the weird statue in the middle ”, Zoro reiterated. He clearly remembered it.

For a moment, Luffy seemed to think. “I think I know which one you mean, but… isn’t that on the other side of town?”, he asked finally. “And, come to think of it, I don’t think there’s a bakery near that crossing either.”

“Maybe you haven’t been paying attention”, Zoro suggested. 

“Oh no, I know all the places where you can buy food in this city”, Luffy said, grinning proudly.

Zoro just rolled his eyes at the answer. He was sure the bakery was just around the next corner.

“Anyways”, Luffy said, pulling out his phone, “I’ll text Nami to bring me some food.”

Zoro thought about how Nami would probably charge him for doing that favour, but he didn’t mention it. Luffy walked a bit closer to him, shoulders touching, as he always did when he was texting and walking, trusting Zoro to lead him. They approached the corner, turned and – 

There was no bakery. Not even a weird statue. Or a crossing, for that matter. Just a straight street with the university buildings on both sides. 

“Huh, they must have renovated around here”, Zoro mumbled. He ignored Luffy’s grin.


	2. What friendship is about

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while hiding under a table in fear because I will hold my first lecture tomorrow <3

“Pfnks ohgohn fooh paah’ng Nmmi fooh muh, Schobbah”, Luffy said, mouth full of croissant.

“Excuse me?”, Chopper asked politely.

Luffy gulped down such a large amount of food, that Chopper was sure it must have hurt.

“Thanks again for paying Nami for me, Chopper”, Luffy repeated, then continued to stuff his face.

“Ah, no problem.” Chopper, who had once before seen how Luffy got when he was hangry, thought paying Nami for food was a small price to pay for peace. Speaking of hangry Luffy, he was looking forward to Sanji’s return. His absence really showed how much both Luffy and Zoro depended on having him as a roommate – even Zoro wasn’t his usual self and seemed even groggier than usual, though he would never admit it. 

“Anyways, how come you decided to take Advanced Biochem this semester?”, he asked Luffy, who seemed to have finished eating.

“Advanced what?”, Luffy asked, sounding like he never even heard those words before.

Chopper looked up at his friend, furrowing his brow. “Advanced Biochemistry? You know, the course we’re having right now? That we have been going to for three weeks now?”

“Oh, yeah”, Luffy said, and if it weren’t for Chopper pulling his sleeve, he would have walked past the door to the almost empty lecture hall – Chopper liked being early. Running late gave him anxiety, because of the thought of having to enter when the lecture already started and everyone staring at him. But then again, being early also made him anxious, because he was never able to shake the feeling that he was in the wrong place if nobody he knew was there – but there was that guy with the mean look and the vitiligo patches who was in the same year as him, already sitting in the hall, unpacking his laptop, so Chopper felt at ease.

“So, do you need Biochem for your Major – wait, what are you even majoring in?”, Chopper asked, Luffy behind him, choosing a seat in the middle of the hall, exactly the right height to see the presentation, but not too far up to have trouble seeing the professor. He was always sitting right here. How had he never asked Luffy what he even studied in the year they had known each other? How come it never even came up in conversation?

But Luffy didn’t answer. He got distracted, apparently, by the spinning chairs the lecture hall had. Chopper didn’t even try to suppress his smile when he watched Luffy spin and grin broadly. Nonetheless, his eyes wandered around by themselves, looking at the entering students purely out of habit, some of them throwing them disapproving glances, one of them even murmuring something to a friend, who laughed in response – but as always, it seemed to bother him less when he was with Luffy. Maybe because he knew that they were looking at his friend, not at him. Or maybe because there was something about Luffy that made people like him. Even now, there were more people smiling when they looked at him than looking judgmental, as if his joy was contentious. Sitting just two rows behind them was the guy with the mean look on his face, whom Chopper had never seen smile before, and yet, there he was, looking at Luffy, who was spinning as fast as he could, a small smirk on his face. Chopper looked around in wonder of the effect Luffy had, until-

“Ooof, Chopper, I feel sick”, Luffy moaned, abruptly stopping, one hand on Chopper’s shoulder, the other on the table, holding onto it like it would steady the room undoubtedly spinning in front of him. 

“Oh, hey, heyhey, take it easy”, Chopper said soothingly, putting an arm around his friend. Luffy dropped his head on the desk and closed his eyes while Chopper patted his back. He didn’t scold him for being reckless or for not seeing this coming when spinning on a chair right after eating breakfast, because, why would he? That wouldn’t help, and it wouldn’t even stop him from doing it again if the impulse presented itself again. And after all, wasn’t this what friendship was all about? Smiling at the dumb shit the other one does and then helping out when the consequences of their actions inevitably come? 

Luffy had taught him that - what friendship was about. He had taught him a lot of things. Like following your dreams  
.  
So, in the following 90 minutes, Chopper learnt about advanced biochemistry in order to follow his dream of becoming a doctor, while Luffy sat next to him, head still on the desk, following a much more literal dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very short one - sorry about that! Next one will be longer, I promise
> 
> Today's fun fact: It's a common misconception to say that the left brain is more logical and the right brain more creative. Both parts of the brain have more or less the same areas, the biggest difference is that the right brain processes information coming from the left half of the body and the other way around. The one exception is language processing, which is done by the left brain in about 90% of people.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact of today: Did you know your heartbeat gets a little bit slower when you breathe out? It speeds up again when breathing out. This is called respiratory-sinus-arrhythmia.


End file.
